TIGSource: Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters

Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters

Derek Yu — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:55:00 +0000

DMac, the patron saint of the indie games community, let me know that his current project, Samurai Soul Hunters, can now be shown to the public! Hurrah! Created for the XNA competition, SSH is a 1-4 player beat ‘em up (slash ‘em up?) set in feudal Japan.

It’s been great to be able to hear firsthand the love and hard work DMac’s put into this game. And it shows! The game looks like great fun, especially with four players, and I totally dig the Space Harrier-esque perspective. Can’t wait to see this on XBLA.

Plus, more games need metal soundtracks! All hail the DMac!

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Testbot

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:39:07 +0000

Testing!

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Dan MacDonald

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:12:45 +0000

Ohh, that looks good. Yeah those SpaceHarrier esq games of the late 80’s early 90’s were probably one of the largest influences. Though cannon to nearly all these games is the fact that the are shooters and they plaster the player right up at the screen. I wanted to take elements from those games but instead make a hack’n’slash game. To be honest at the beginning I wasn’t sure if it would work at all.

We experimented first with different scroll speeds, allowing the player to dictate the camera position in the level, and then decided to auto scroll the camera but allow the player to move in and out of the visible area of the level.

Another big influence for us at least early on was ninja gaiden, I really loved the feel of the controls in that game. But by the end I had pulled nearly all of it out, the only similarities that remain are a 3 swing combo, and a slash up / slash down move. The button layout started similar to ninja gaiden as well, but migrated away as I saw that my kids were having troubles with them. I simplified the controls and it made it easier for us all to play together.

So, while we certainly borrowed from a lot of pots (some of the level design influence came from vertical shooters), we mixed it in our own way . If you play the game it should feel a lot like games you’ve played before but at the same time have it’s own unique aspects that feel fresh and new.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by lawbag@hotmail.com

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 06:43:15 +0000

kinda reminds me of Steve Bak’s Bad Company too

http://www.lemonamiga.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php%3Fid%3D259

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Madgarden

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 20:54:36 +0000

Dan/Chris, that’s looking really great! It’s got some Samurai Jack going on. Wicked.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Chris (DayDreamOZ)

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:39:09 +0000

@Taro: Thanks for the flowers… Nice to be compared to Castle Crashers - though I never played the game and did see only a few screenshort the art in SSH is original and the only similarity with CC is the 2D approach based on a flash style of art.

In the case of SSH I made the call due to the lack of time and the amount of art that needed to be created. There was not enough time to do a full 3D game and pixelart is out of the question with a screensize as big as you have on the XBox.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Dan MacDonald

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:23:49 +0000

@moi: You are referring to Katsu, my first real attempt at indie game development that I stubbornly refused to let go of. It was my attempt to make something for casual gamers but also something that interested me. In the end it was like trying to make a game that appeals to the Korean and US markets equally. Their just too different, I couldn’t make the game how I wanted it because casual people wouldn’t like it and if I made it how casual gamers would like it, I started hating it.

With this game, I just went with what I wanted and all of a sudden game development became so much easier. :)

@Taro: I’ll happily be compared to Castle Crashers, the quality bar that The Behemoth sets in its games is nothing short of amazing and something we aspire to match. Sure there are some similarities, but these things are bound to arise when you create a game in the same basic beat-em-up genere. I’ve played Castle Crashers and while the emotional experience is somewhat similar the controls and mechanics in SSH play quite differently.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Taro

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:04:26 +0000

Does anyone else feel like this is a Castle Crashers ripoff? The art styles and concepts are extremely similar.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by moi

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:46:08 +0000

Hasn’t the D-Mac been develloping a samourai game since like the dawn of times?
I didn’t think I’d ever see it completed. Anyway well done, it looks nice.

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Cas

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 06:54:10 +0000

Way to go, Dan!

I’ll soon have more hair than Derek, maybe I could qualify as the patron monkey of indie development?

Cas :)

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by iopred

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:30:45 +0000

Gotta love this game, it plays as well as it looks!

Fantastic work for such a tight timeframe!

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Dan MacDonald

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:13:42 +0000

a direct link to the video for the truly lazy…

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Dan MacDonald

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:08:30 +0000

Thanks for the nice comments derek, though, i think you qualify for the patron saint of indie’s before I do. You have the hair for it!

I’ve updated the video on the site with one that’s has a lot better sound quality, it’s still slightly loud but it shouldn’t blow your speakers… ;)

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by Alec

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:52:50 +0000

Awesome! :)

"Preview: Samurai Soul Hunters" by BMcC

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:10:26 +0000

Hail!

D-Mac forever!